Seven decades of horse racing in the Bay Area (photos)

This week’s Let’s Go to the Morgue! is a reader request, which arrived on a postcard from Susan Bouchard of Redwood City. She writes: “My grandpa was a jockey. Any good photos of Bay Meadows (RIP) or Golden Gate Fields?”

I found more than a thousand photos of Golden Gate Fields, Bay Meadows, Tanforan, various jockeys and race horses in the archives, dating back to the 1940s. I ran across several early photos of Willie Shoemaker, Chronicle articles about Seabiscuit and Phar Lap and a 1953 program from Golden Gate Fields. (I held back photos of specific horses and may come back with photos of local greats such as Silky Sullivan.) Enjoy the photos! You can buy many of these images and others from this series at the Chronicle Photo Store.

-Peter Hartlaub

Joe Rosenthal/Chronicle 1948

Oct. 27, 1948: The Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno dates back to 1899. It was remodeled in 1948, closed in 1964 and burned to the ground within a year. (Tanforan was also a detention center after the attack on Pearl Harbor, where Japanese Americans would be assembled before getting sent to internment camps.) I grew up maybe five miles away in the 1970s, but didn’t know a race track had been there until my father explained why the mall signage had multi-colored images of horses on them. Tanforan was sort of run-down when I was a teen, but it housed the area’s $1.50 movie theater, which was underground. I saw the first “Lethal Weapon” there with my dad in 1987. Little did I know that Murtaugh and Riggs were foiling a heroin smuggling operation in the ashes of a race track.

Bob Campbell/Chronicle 1951

April 28, 1951: Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo opened in 1934 and closed in 2008. According to the caption, this lively crowd of 19,070 watched the 17th running of the Bay Meadows Handicap. As I looked through the photos, I was amazed how big the crowds were, and how many women attended. I went to Bay Meadows a half dozen times in the 1990s and 2000s, and don’t think I ever saw a crowd larger than 2,000 or more than a handful of women. I’m also struck by how well everyone dressed in the 1950s. Even the desperate-looking degenerate gambler types wore shirts and jackets.

Duke Downey/Chronicle 1953

Oct. 16, 1953: Iconic jockey Willie Shoemaker had strong Bay Area ties, especially early in his career. He won his first stakes race at Bay Meadows in 1949, and he made his name as a jockey on Bay Area tracks. I found scores of photos — more below — from his riding days, but this is probably my favorite. The caption reads “Mrs. Shoemaker kisses the new champ.” (This was Virginia McLaughlin, the first of three wives.) Shoemaker was charitably 4-foot-11, but I didn’t run across a single photo where he looked as if he lacked confidence.

Joe Rosenthal/Chronicle 1961

Nov. 1, 1961: Gamblers line up at the betting window at Tanforan Racetrack. If there’s one thing young people can learn from this archive series, it’s that pretty much everyone in the Bay Area wore a hat. Even if you were on skid row, you invested in a fedora. I find it interesting that the minimum bet appears to be $2 in 1961. Movie ticket prices have increased tenfold over the last 50 years, but the minimum bet is the same. (Old timers please correct me if I’m wrong about this.)

Special to the Chronicle/1963

May 9, 1963: I thought jockeys were badass long before gathering together all these photos. But images like this definitely reinforce that belief. These guys look like they just crawled out of mountain after shoveling coal for a couple of months. I couldn’t find out who shot this photo (the caption information was incomplete on the back) but the jockeys are Tony Dominguez, Bobby Jennings and Gerald Hunt. I think it’s a great image. You don’t see a single horse or even much of the track, but you can tell exactly what they went through.

Joe Rosenthal/Chronicle 1968

May 22, 1968: Another beautiful photo by Joe Rosenthal. The Chronicle photographer had shot his iconic Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photo by this time, but I’ve noticed that even Joe’s routine assignments were often unique and memorable. According to the caption: “The first night horse racing meet in California opens tomorrow at Bay Meadows, and to test the action quarterhorses ran under the half-million dollar lighting installation … . There was no betting, a situation that will change tomorrow night.”

Dave Randolph/Chronicle 1973

June 3, 1973: Maybe it’s the body language, but I’m getting the feeling that this fan at Golden Gate Fields — I call him Slumpy McBadPosture — isn’t having the best day. People who are winning big are much more likely to bother to find a bench to sit on. This racing enthusiast is peering at the Daily Racing Form and (bonus!) working on a stogie that appears to have extinguished itself 20 minutes ago. I’m hoping Slumpy hit his trifecta in the 8th. Everyone deserves a good day at the track.

William S. Young/Chronicle 1974

Dec. 12, 1974: Two of the greatest jockeys of all time, Willie Shoemaker and Laffit Pincay Jr., share a moment off the track. I’m pretty sure this was a Bay Area track — that “All Nations Stable” sign is in other photos — but a horse racing insider will have to tell me in the comments where this is. Pincay and Shoemaker are still second and third on the all-time wins chart for North American jockeys, with more than 18,000 between them, including 15 Triple Crown victories.

Special to the Chronicle/1973

Dec. 28, 1973: Harness racing at Bay Meadows Racetrack. There were dozens of harness racing photos in the archive, and I couldn’t look at a single one without thinking about “Ben-Hur.” I’ve always wondered if the regular horses look down on the ones who are hooked up to harnesses, in the same way that kids used to tease me because I still had training wheels on my bike in first grade. The stupid number cards on their heads didn’t help. It looks like they’re playing that poker game that my drunk roommates used to play where they stick a card on their forehead and bet.

Chronicle archives/1976

March 30, 1976: I like the from-behind perspective in this photo, because it offers a clear view of the grandstands and the Belmont Hills to the south of the track. I would ride my ten-speed bike — and later drive my piece-of-@#$% 1963 Chevy Nova — from Burlingame to the Belmont Theater, and then head up into the hills to the best comic book shop in the area. I think the adults in my life viewed this as a frivolous activity, when I should have been bearing down on my math and science. But I now have a job writing about movies and comics. In your face, guidance counselors! But I digress. According to the caption, I’m a Tom Boy, second from left, eventually won the race.

Frederic Larson/Chronicle 1984

June 8, 1984: Here’s an early photo of local racing legend Russell Baze, relaxing in a locker room before a race. Baze has since become the all-time wins leader among jockeys. Among other accomplishments, he rode Lost in the Fog for 10 of the horse’s 11 wins. I’m not impressed by the college dorm room-esque locker area that Baze is resting in. Hopefully after his 11,000th win, someone threw in a little flat-screen television and a mini-fridge.

Brant Ward/Chronicle 1986

Feb. 2, 1986: I frequently go out on Chronicle assignments with Brant Ward, who shot this photo. I’m constantly impressed with how many exceptional archive photos from the 1980s and 1990s turn out to be his. This is a pensive moment after a big El Camino Real Derby win for jockey Alex Solis and racehorse Snow Chief, who went on to went on to victory in the Preakness.

Deanne Fitzmaurice/Chronicle 1989

April 16, 1989: According to the caption: “After Simply Majestic won the race, assistant trainer Tommy Pascuma gave the horse some of his beer.” I’ll let someone who understands horse anatomy weigh in on the wisdom of giving your horse a carbonated alcoholic beverage. But seriously, Budweiser? Running your ass off for 1 1/8 miles doesn’t merit a craft brew? If you’re going to be cheap, at least give the horse a Carta Blanca or a Rolling Rock. I guarantee this horse lost its next race in protest.

Frederic Larson/Chronicle 1990

Jan. 15, 1990: Willie Shoemaker rides Rare Sweep to a second place finish, a month before he retired as a jockey at age 59. A few years later, he rolled his Ford Bronco II while driving drunk and became paralyzed from the neck down. I was a Los Angeles-based courtroom reporter in the mid-1990s and covered his lawsuit and trial against the state, car maker and doctors who initially treated his injuries. Shoemaker returned to racing as a trainer after the accident, and died in 2003 at age 72.

Oct. 29, 1953: One of my favorite finds was this 1953 program, which I’m pretty sure Roger Sterling himself designed for Golden Gate Fields. It’s in incredible condition, with only a few pencil markings inside to note the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. And yes, I’ll be filing this artifact back in the Chronicle morgue, and not putting it on eBay.

Oct. 29, 1953: Here’s the inside of the program, with a listing of all the officers and directors and information about the first race. Note that this took place during the little-talked-about Goodwin J. Knight gubernatorial administration, and Shoemaker finished second in the 11th race on Pine Ridge. (It was a rough day for Shoemaker, who had one more second-place finish on the day and four more losses.)

April 17, 1932: Here’s an article about Phar Lap, the legendary Australian race horse and subject of a 1983 film by the same name. It was a huge deal when the horse arrived in the Bay Area, and Phar Lap’s suspicious death played out like a murder mystery. Vets at the time determined that the wonder horse died of colic, but scientists continue to test the horse with modern methods and an intentional arsenic overdose remains a strong theory.

Nov. 22, 1937: Seabiscuit was a massive deal in the Bay Area, where columnists and writers claimed him as a hometown horse. (The horse was raised in Kentucky but owned by local businessman Charles S. Howard.) Based on the press coverage, I would equate the hype to a 49ers Super Bowl. Seabiscuit won two races at Bay Meadows in 1936, and stayed in Tanforan stables in 1937. After beating War Admiral in their historic 1938 race, the horse retired (and winning the Santa Anita Handicap in 1940) , the horse retired, and lived out his life at Ridgewood Ranch near Mendocino County. I also found an article about three kittens the horse adopted in his stable.

Oct. 14, 1950: Shoemaker was an instant phenomenon, and I found articles and photos about his racing as well as glimpses at his personal life. This was one of his bigger days during his second year as a jockey. A year later he won five straight races at Golden Gate Fields, and was once again hailed as a young phenomenon. This wasn’t the only journalist to refer to Shoemaker as “Wee Willie” frequently in print. I’m sure he was glad that nickname had become less common by the 1960s.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. If you have a request for a future archive search, please send it to me on a postcard at:

Let’s Go to the Morgue!

C/O Peter Hartlaub

San Francisco Chronicle

901 Mission St.

San Francisco, CA 94103.

Include your city of residence, plus your first name and last initial — or full name if you’re comfortable with that. Make sure my name is on the postcard, otherwise it will never get to me.

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder of this parenting blog, which admittedly sometimes often has nothing to do with parenting. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peterhartlaub. Your questions answered on VYou at www.vyou.com/peterhartlaub.